As a land-grant university founded under the guidelines of the Morrill Land Grant Act, the
University of Rhode island had and has an obligation to provide educational opportunities to the people of the state in the areas of "agricultural and mechanic arts". The meaning of those terms has changed drastically since the passage of the Morrill Act in 1862, but the obligation remains. As part of that obligation, each state has also established an agricultural experiment station, usually in conjunction with the land-grant institution, to conduct agricultural research and to provide technical assistance to the farmers of the state.

Although the Morrill Land-Grant Act was passed in 1862, Rhode Island had no experiment station until 1888 and no agricultural college until 1892. Prior to this, the proceeds of the Morrill Fund had gone to
Brown University to provide agricultural education to the future farmers of Rhode Island. Brown, though willing to accept the money, never seemed willing or able through twenty-five years of off-and-on negotiations with the state to provide the agricultural education required by the Morrill Act. Finally, the state legislature, in response to the passage of the federal Hatch Act providing federal funds to establish agricultural experiment stations in each of the states, enacted legislation to create a state agricultural school and an agricultural experiment station in 1888. A
board of Managers was promptly appointed, which in turn appointed
Charles 0. Flagg as Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. The school and station thus created were without faculty, facilities, or land. (See Herman Eschenbacher, The University of Rhode Island: A History of Land Grant Education in Rhode Island, New York, 1967: Chapters 1-4 give a detailed description and analysis of the events leading to the creation of the agricultural school and experiment station.)

In September of 1888, the Board of Managers purchased the 140 acre Oliver Watson farm in the village of Kingston for $5,000 as the site of the station and school. That 140 acre farm is the core of the present day University of Rhode Island campus and the Watson family farmhouse still stands just to the east of the University Library. Taft Laboratory was completed in early 1890 as the headquarters of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and College Hall and Boarding Hall were completed by late in the same year to house the agricultural school. John Washburn had been appointed principal of the school in 1889 and it opened its doors to students for the first time in the fall of 1890. In the spring of 1892, the agricultural school became the Rhode Island college of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.

From the beginning, the College and the Station were closely allied, but also had distinct responsibilities. Station staff taught in the College and graduates of the College were often hired as assistants in the Station's research program. The Station, however, had a mission which was in many ways distinct from that of the College. As a condition of its receiving federal support, the Station staff was required to conduct agricultural research and experimentation and to publish the results of that research in its "Bulletin" so that farmers of the state could benefit.

As the Station became more firmly established, it began to assume additional responsibilities. For example, station staff were made responsible for enforcing state laws regulating the sale of commercial fertilizers and animal feeds in the state. This included collecting license fees, collecting and analyzing fertilizer and feed samples to insure that the products contained the ingredients they were alleged to contain, and recommending for prosecution those companies which violated state laws.

Despite its venture into law enforcement, however, the staff of the station never lost sight of its primary mission, which was to expand the borders of scientific knowledge in the area of agriculture. The focus of research changed as the needs of the farmers, both in Rhode Island and across the nation, shifted into new areas of interest. Whereas until the 1920's researchers had concentrated on ways to increase agricultural productivity, by the early 1930's they had begun to turn their attention to seeking solutions to "rural social and economic problems and expanding market opportunities" for farmers hard hit by the Great Depression (See Elisabeth Keiffer, The College of Resource Development, 1888-1988, Kingston, R.I., 1988) . World War II further influenced the direction and nature of research, as the Station concentrated on more practical projects such as "dehydration of fruits and vegetables, improved turf for military airports, and the development of insecticides and fungicides for use in the Pacific Theatre." (Keiffer, p. 17).

By war's end, the nature of the research carried on by the Station had changed again in response to the changing needs and demands of agriculture. As the number of farmers in Rhode Island and across the nation declined and the number of agricultural related businesses grew, requests for assistance began to come increasingly from non-farmers. Research in the areas of commercial nurseries and the development of turf grasses for use on golf courses and athletic fields became a staple of the Station's research program.

In the 1960's and 1970's the focus of research again was modified as the perceived needs and demands of the nation changed. As economic support increased for environmental and ecological research, researchers at the Experiment Station naturally turned to the state's marine resources as a fruitful area of investigation. Fisheries and Marine Technology and aquaculture became and remain significant areas of study for the Experiment Station and the College of Resource Development. By the end of the decade of the 1970's, the College and the Station were involved in research in areas as diverse as environmental pathology, ornamental and garden plants, and energy production. The scope of research and service, in short, had gone far beyond the borders of Rhode island and had achieved national and international importance.

The strength and diversity of the Experiment Station's research efforts continued to grow throughout the 1980's. As the Station celebrated its centennial in 1988, it could look back on 100 years of service to the state and the nation in the area of agricultural research. Though it little resembles the department that was established in Taft Hall on
Kingston Hill a century ago, it has remained true to the original mission.

Open for research.

Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.

The records described herein are those of the
Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station from 1889 to 1957, with the bulk of the records covering the years 1890 to 1912. The directors during this period were:
Charles 0. Flagg (1888-1897), Arthur Brigham (1897-1901), and Homer J. Wheeler (1901-1913). The records, stored for several years in the attic of Taft Hall, are in poor to good condition. Outgoing correspondence, copies of which were made by the letterpress method, is in particularly poor condition and many of the letters have faded to the point of illegibility. Incoming correspondence, bound ledgers, and field books are in generally good condition.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence relating to the station's research and regulatory responsibilities. A smaller, though probably more historically valuable, portion of the collection consists of log books recording field experiments on the various research plots, faculty and staff research notebooks, daily farm and office journals, daily weather observation reports, and the financial records of the station.

The records of the Department of Poultry Husbandry of the Agricultural Experiment Station were transferred to the University Archives in January 1988.

See also the Papers of Thomas and Rachel Higgins, Mss. Gr. 192, the Records of the President, Kenyon L. Butterfield, Rec. Gr. 1.3, and the Early Recordings of Rhode Island State College, Rec. Gr. 143 for more on the Agricultural Experiment Station. Also search the HELIN catalog for publications of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

The Field Experiments: Permanent Record Series constitutes a permanent and complete record of all the agricultural experiments conducted by the
Agricultural Experiment Station in the span of years listed above. A portion of the station's farm land was divided into plots which were staked out, numbered, and assigned to a particular member of the staff to conduct agricultural experiments in his area of interest or in areas of research designated by the station director. The staff member recorded the procedures he followed for each experiment each year, and the results of that experiment, in the field experiment plot books. These are large ledger style volumes which are divided by plot number. A researcher wishing to know what experiments had been conducted on a particular plot in the past year or several years had only to consult the plot book for his particular plot to learn its complete experimental history.

The field experiment books represent a valuable resource in that they provide a complete history of the changing research interests of the Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station over an extended period of time. They also provide a complete record of the procedures followed and the result achieved.

The information recorded in these annual field experiment books is the same as that which can be found in Series I, but in a different format. Series I contains reports of all the experiments conducted on one experimental plot over several years; series II contains reports on all experiments conducted on all experimental plots in one year. Researchers recorded the type of experiment, the procedures followed, and the results obtained for each experiment for each plot for the year.

These field experiment books, taken in total, provide a history of the experimental focus of the Experiment Station over a period of years. Viewed in concert with the permanent record books of Series I, the annual field experiment books provide a comprehensive overview of the experimental focus of the station as agricultural needs changed and technology improved.

The series is arranged chronologically by year and numerically by plot number within each volume.

611905-1906Annual Record Field Experiments621907Annual Record Field Experiments631907-1908Annual Record Field Experiments641909Annual Record Field Experiments751910Annual Record Field Experiments761911Annual Record Field Experiments771912Annual Record Field Experiments781913Annual Record Field Experiments891914Annual Record Field Experiments8101915Annual Record Field Experiments8111916Annual Record Field Experiments8121917Annual Record Field Experiments8131918Annual Record Field Experiments8141919Annual Record Field Experiments9151920Annual Record Field Experiments9161921Annual Record Field Experiments10171922Annual Record Field Experiments10181923Annual Record Field Experiments10191924Annual Record Field Experiments10201925Annual Record Field Experiments11211926Annual Record Field Experiments11221927Annual Record Field Experiments11231928Annual Record Field Experiments11241929Annual Record Field ExperimentsSeries 312-161-35Farm and Office Journals1890-1911

Series 3 consists of daily journals or diaries of various office and field staff of the station. With two exceptions the authors of the diaries are unidentified, but appear to be an equal mix of office and field staff. The journals record the daily activities of the station in the field, in the laboratory, and in the office. Activities range from tending the greenhouses to sweeping out the barns.

Of particular interest in this series are the daily journals of W. F. Adams, the first superintendent of the Experiment Station. In his 1890 journal, Adams documented the work necessary to turn the
Oliver Watson farm into a working experiment station farm and agricultural school. Other diaries record the daily routines of the office staff, research staff, and the greenhouse superintendent.

Series 4, Research Notes, contains the pocket notebooks carried by station researchers in which they recorded in rough form the procedures used in their experiments, the results obtained therefrom, and various random observations and calculations. This information was later recorded more completely in the annual and permanent record books for the research plots. The research value of the notebooks is limited by the ability of the researcher to understand what the notes and miscellaneous jottings mean.

The series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the staff member who owned the notebook. Unidentified notebooks have been placed at the end of the series.

The Weather Data Series consists of monthly reports submitted by a local weather observer to the United States Department of Agriculture's Weather Bureau. The reports contain daily observations on weather conditions, maximum and minimum temperatures, amount and type of precipitation, and observations on unusual weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, snowstorms, etc., in the Kingston area.

This series is valuable in that it provides a complete record of weather conditions in Kingston over an extended period of time. This makes possible comparison with weather conditions in other eras and, used in conjunction with Series I and III, can provide some indication of the possible effect of weather conditions on crops.

The series is arranged chronologically by month. Cumulative statistics are at the end of the series.

This series containes the administrative correspondence of Charles 0. Flagg, the first director of the Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station. Flagg was appointed in 1888 to direct a station which at the time had no land, no staff, no facilities and no money. It was to be his responsibility to hire a staff, supervise the construction of a laboratory on the newly purchased Oliver Watson farm in Kingston, and to do whatever else was necessary to get the station established in the state.

Contained in this series is Flagg's correspondence with President John Washburn of the newly established agricultural school to which the station was attached, with actual and potential members of his staff, and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture which funded the station's activities. Also of interest in this series are letters from farmers throughout the state requesting information on a variety of agricultural topics. A reading of these letters provides one with an overview of the issues and topics that concerned local farmers in the last decade of the nineteenth century.

The series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent and chronologically by date thereunder.

This series contains the administrative correspondence of Arthur A. Brigham who succeeded Charles 0. Flagg as director of the Agricultural Experiment Station in the late summer of 1897. As is the case with the Flagg Series, it includes correspondence with local farmers, a variety of businesses, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Included are letters from dozens of commercial fertilizer manufacturers, the regulation of whom was placed in the hands of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Station staff sampled commercial fertilizers throughout the state, analyzed them to determine if the percentage of ingredients contained therein met those guaranteed by the manufacturers, and published the results in station bulletins. Irate letters from the offices of fertilizer companies whose products did not meet their guarantees comprise a large element of this series.

Incoming letters are arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent, while copes of outgoing letters are arranged chronologically by date and are contained in letterpress copybooks placed at the end of the series.

The Homer J. Wheeler Correspondence Series contains the administrative correspondence of Wheeler, who was appointed the third director of the station in 1901 when Brigham resigned to take a position in private industry. Wheeler was a member of the original station staff, having been appointed station chemist in 1889. Shortly after his appointment as the director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, he assumed the mantle of acting president of the college in 1902 and 1903 between the resignation of John Washburn in August and the appointment of Kenyon Butterfield the following April. He resigned in 1912 to become the chief agronomist for the
American Agricultural Chemical Company, a position he held until his retirement in December 1931.

Mr. Wheeler received B.S. degrees from Massachusetts Agricultural College and Boston University, and a Sc.D. from Brown University in 1911, and a D.Sc. from Massachusetts State College in 1933. He died in Montclair, NJ, on November 19, 1945.

Wheeler was an aggressive and often irascible administrator who brooked no nonsense in carrying out his duties. This attitude is apparent in his correspondence with manufacturers of commercial fertilizer who regularly, if unintentionally, violated the law regulating the sale of commercial fertilizers in the state. He constantly threatened "scofflaws" with prosecution in very blunt language and proceeded to carry out those threats whenever he felt it necessary to do so. He was equally blunt with critics of the station.

Incoming letters and copies of some outgoing letters are arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent. The bulk of the outgoing letters are arranged chronologically by date and are located after the alphabetic file. Finally, copies of some of Wheeler's outgoing letters are contained in letterpress copybooks and are placed at the end of the series.

The Mason H. Campbell Correspondence Series contains the administrative correspondence of Campbell, who was appointed the fourth director of the station in 1942. He continued in that position until 1959. The letters contained in this series are mostly from only two years of his tenure as director of the Agricultural Station.

Incoming letters and copies of some outgoing letters are arranged alphabetically by the name of the corespondent or subject.

This series contains the professional correspondence of the staff members of the Agricultural Experiment Station for a fifteen year period. Subjects of the correspondence include research interests and techniques, publications, exchanges of information with colleagues from other institutions, and miscellaneous professional concerns.

The correspondence in this series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the staff member and alphabetically by the name of his correspondent. Letterpress Copybooks containing copies of the staff member's outgoing letters are placed at the end of the alphabetic listing of the staff member's, correspondence.

The Financial Records Series consists of a variety of ledgers and requisitions documenting transactions of the Agricultural Experiment Station over a period of fifty years. Included among these are payable ledgers, daily expenditure ledgers (day books), division expenditure ledgers, profit ledgers for expenditures for federal and state projects, and requisitions for funds for payment to vendors.

The ledgers are arranged alphabetically by type of ledger and then chronologically by date grouped together at the end of the series and arranged alphabetically by the name of the payee.

This series contains the administrative correspondence of the Chemical Division of the Agricultural Experiment Station during the tenures of the first two heads of the Division,
Homer Wheeler (1890-1902) and
Burt Hartwell (1902-1911). There are two sub-series, one each for Wheeler and Hartwell.

Correspondents include other members of the Division staff and representatives of fertilizer and chemical companies. Subjects of the correspondence with staff members concern research and experiments they were conducting, equipment needed, and the direction of future research. Subjects of the correspondence with chemical and fertilizer companies include agricultural uses of chemicals and enforcement of Rhode Island's truth-in-labeling law for chemical fertilizers.

The correspondence in each of the two sub-series is arranged alphabetically by the name the correspondent and then chronologically by date.

This series contains the administrative correspondence of the
Poultry Division of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Correspondents include Division staff, staff from other experiment stations, companies producing products used in poultry raising (e.g. feed and incubator companies) and the general public. Topics include research interests, poultry diseases and their prevention and cure, and poultry raising in general.

The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent and then chronologically by date.

The Subject File consists of the general administrative files of the Agricultural Experiment Station over a fifty year period. Included are correspondence, memos, reports, minutes of meetings of various agricultural groups in the state, policies and procedures, and publications.

Topics include the work and research interests of other agricultural experiment stations throughout the country, the policies and procedures of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, farm equipment, the station's annual egg laying contest, feed, fertilizers, gypsy moth infestations, and poultry diseases.

The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically by date within folders.